Texas Death Penalty

The same day the Court of Criminal Appeals stopped Robert Roberson’s execution to consider the use of “junk science” in his conviction, the state’s highest criminal court denied a Dallas County man’s challenge to the use of what his attorneys say is flawed eyewitness testimony in his case.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has blocked the execution of Robert Roberson a week before it was scheduled to occur.

The case is attracting attention from across the nation, even among supporters of capital punishment, who are calling for a halt to Roberson's execution.

The latest calls to stave off the politically charged execution come after a summer where GOP leaders asked the state courts to kick Democrats out of office and throw Beto O’Rourke in jail.

Roberson, convicted of capital murder in 2003 for the death of his 2-year-old daughter, will continue to push for a new trial. He has maintained his innocence.

After a roughly 20-minute hearing, Judge Austin Reeve Jackson rejected arguments by Roberson's attorney that his execution should be further delayed because of a pending appeal to the state's highest criminal court.

A court hearing on Wednesday will determine whether to proceed with Paxton’s request.

Ruben Gutierrez is challenging the constitutionality of a state law that restricts death row inmates from seeking tests that he says will prove he’s not a murderer.

The Texas Attorney General's office has taken over the Roberson case from the Anderson County District Attorney and has requested Roberson be immediately added to the death row calendar.

Moises Mendoza was convicted of murder in 2005 for killing a Farmersville woman and later burning her body.

Victims and families of the people who died in the 2019 attack offered impact testimonies as trial ends. "I have no more room for hate in my heart," said Yvonne Gonzalez, who lost her parents.

Those housed in the O’Daniel Unit in Gatesville, including such names as Melissa Lucio, have had their lives touched by a particular Catholic order.